had passed over. Immediately at the entrance, and superimposed directly
upon the granite, are strata of compact calcareous sandstone and chert,
alternating with fine white and reddish-white, and fine gray and red
sandstones. These strata dip to the eastward at an angle of about 18 deg., and
form the western limit of the sandstone and limestone formations on the
line of our route. Here we entered among the primitive rocks. The usual
road passes to the right of this place; but we wound, or rather scrambled,
our way up the narrow valley for several hours. Wildness and disorder were
the character of this scenery. The river had been swollen by the late
rains, and came rushing through with an impetuous current, three or four
feet deep, and generally twenty yards broad. The valley was sometimes the
breadth of the stream, and sometimes opened into little green meadows,
sixty yards wide, with open groves of aspen. The stream was bordered
throughout with aspen, beech, and willow; and tall pines grow on the sides
and summits of the crags. On both sides the granite rocks rose
precipitously to the height of three hundred and five hundred feet,
terminating in jagged and broken pointed peaks; and fragments of fallen
rock lay piled up at the foot of the precipices. Gneiss, mica slate, and a
white granite, were among the varieties I noticed. Here were many old
traces of beaver on the stream; remnants of dams, near which were lying
trees, which they had cut down, one and two feet in diameter. The hills
entirely shut up the river at the end of about five miles, and we turned
up a ravine that led to a high prairie, which seemed to be the general
level of the country. Hence, to the summit of the ridge, there is a
regular and very gradual rise. Blocks of granite were piled up at the
heads of the ravines, and small bare knolls of mica slate and milky quartz
protruded at frequent intervals on the prairie, which was whitened in
occasional spots with small salt lakes, where the water had evaporated,
and left the bed covered with a shining incrustation of salt. The evening
was very cold, a northwest wind driving a fine rain in our faces; and at